low maintenance vaping, wick changing

[zoiDman]

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i change my wick after every few ml of liquid. it's a pita but it has to be done. like brushing your teeth. and just like brushing your teeth, your mouth is dirtiest just before you brush. i'm not sure what i'm going on about but.... what is a way to make vaping as hassle free as possible?

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Hi plewm.

I used Highly Favored and Highly Sweetened DIY e-Liquids for Years. Seemed like every time I turned around, the Wick/Coil of whatever I was using would be Gunked Up.

I moved to using Less Flavoring/Sweeteners in my Mixes. The life of my Wick/Coil was Greatly extended. Then I started to use Unflavored or HOF (Hint of Flavor). HOF is where I placed a Few Drops of Regular flavored e-liquid onto a Fresh Wick, and then Filled the Tank with Unflavored. Or would Place a Few Drops of Regular flavored e-Liquid into a Tank of Unflavored.

I was Amazed (and still am!) at how long I can Go before I need to Re-Wick a Coil. Sometimes I check the Wick after 20 or 30ml and it looks No Different then it was First Primed.

So if you are Looking for a Way to Extend your Wick/Coil, you might Consider using e-Liquids that have a Lower Flavoring/Sweetener Percentage. Like Mixing a Bottle of Regular Flavored e-Liquid with a Bottle of (the Same mg/ml and PG:VG ratio) Unflavored.

You might also be Surprised how Refreshing vaping Less Flavoring/Sweeteners is. Kinda like when you are Thirsty, having a Big Glass of Ice Water verses having a Heavily Sweetened Soda.

 

[Ryedan]

Maybe that "something wrong" is a preference for a very clean looking wick? A very fastidious person might be changing the wick more often than needed - based on the look of the wick rather than actual need.

I know that with one of my favorite juices (Cuttwood Boss Reserve) my wick looks nasty very quickly (within a few mils). I just keep vaping it until the vapor or flavor degrades, which can be many mils and many days - but when I look at the wick it's rather disgusting.

That is certainly possible gpjoe. That's everyone's choice and if it works for them that's all that matters

I don't care what my wick and coil look like, It's all about how they perform for me. IMO the chemistry and environment in an atty are inherently antimicrobial and do not need to be cleaned. Fresh wicking might actually be less healthy so in effect less fastidious than the old stuff. That leaves the 'ick factor' and I'm pretty immune to that.

 

[toucandan229]

i've been thinking lately about wick changing and vaping in general.

does it bother other people that a) you have to change your wicks often, and b) your vape is gradually degrading with each puff until your wick is done?

i change my wick after every few ml of liquid. it's a pita but it has to be done. like brushing your teeth. and just like brushing your teeth, your mouth is dirtiest just before you brush. i'm not sure what i'm going on about but.... what is a way to make vaping as hassle free as possible?

i use bottom fed mods and RBAs. i remember before RBAs became mainstream that you could just blow your atty clean. i wish this was the case with RBAs.

Few things I have noticed is cheap cvs cotton works very well, but doesn't last near as long and with my high wattage rda vaping it needs changing every 2 days or the cotton will just pull apart like nothing, same goes for tanks only they tend to get a bonus few days since they aren't getting zapped as hard.. Name brand organic cotton however tends to last me a week at the time in an rda and 2-3 weeks in a tank..It's worth the extra money even if you can't find the dirt cheap japanese organic cotton

 

[AndriaD]

I find that organic cotton works well, regardless of whether it comes from a cotton ball or the JOC cotton pads -- however, my juice is very thin, so wicking really isn't a problem; for those using more than 50% VG, the japanese organic cotton pads are definitely a better choice, the aligned fibers really do make wicking much easier. I also like the cotton pads because it's just faster and easier to get a wick ready, so I've pretty much switched to Shiseido -- it breaks in much faster than KGD, and may be just slightly less costly. It's really not that costly when you consider how little you use at a time, so how long the pkg will last.

And really, until you put at least a couple of ml thru a wick, it doesn't really taste that great; once it breaks in, 2-4ml depending on your juice and your atty, the flavor really comes thru. My wicks do get brown, I can see the streaks coming down from the coil, but my juice is ungodly gunky; very sweet, lots of cream flavors, and organic strawberry flavoring (ETA: and WTA, which has its own gunk problem) = MUCHO gunk. They last about 10-12ml before I need to yank, dry-burn, and re-wick.

Andria

 

[dhood]

Most of my juices are sweet and gunk quickly. that said, I vape in Kayfuns (2.2 ohm coils at 15W) so I usually change the wicks and dry burn about every 2-3 tank fulls, depending on the flavor change. I did make up a daily vape for my vacation last week. I made up two bottles of 30ml unflavored with 10 drops of my xxxtra strength mentol and 10 drops of Koolada in each bottle. It has a slightly cool taste but nothing else. After going through a full 30 ml of this, my wick is only slightly darkened and looks mostly wet. I'm sure I could get another month out of that one before it needed changing.

 

[plewm]

firstly i appreciate all the input. i haven't gone awol, it's just difficult to find ecf time lately.

my juice is unflavored and then i add a couple of drops of flavor. it's clear juice and definitely not a candidate for the gunky category. (i do add sweetener but like 1 drop per 3ml).

this is why it baffles me that i'm rewicking after every 6ml vaped. the clear juice gets darker and darker as i approach the end of it.

mod is a reo, atomizer is a reomizer 2 - single coil. i vape mostly at about .9ohms, so that's 20 watts maximum, down to 15 watts when the battery loses charge. coil and wick is simple. i've tried "everything" with coils: 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, contact, spaced, 29g, 28g, 27g, 26g. for wick i use KGD, and i've tried many different thicknesses and lengths.

basically the issue is that juice is "cooking", and wick is getting sort of black where it makes contact with the coil. i've even tried sucking for a few seconds after i take a hit so that the airflow will cool the coil/wick.

excuse the essay. it's just annoying. i'll post up a tl;dr and perhaps some images later if anyone still pops onto this thread.

one thing i haven't tried is making the airflow hole a bit thicker. it's the stock reomizer 2 hole which is a tight draw for most people i've heard. would reaming this to be wider make any difference?

I use Ready-X-Wick from RBA Supplies LLC and it will last me for months. Really. I vape a lot of unflavored, and that does help keep it clean, but even with flavored juices, instead of changing the wick out, I just clean it by dry burning it. Worth a try if you haven't already. There are several threads (do an ECF search) about it.

i've tried rxw and i just couldn't get it working well. it felt like it wasn't absorbing juice (and yes i poked something through it to make it like a hose).

Forget about re-wicking, just dry burn once a week - or if you use the thicker stuff, blowtorch and reuse it.

i tried dry burning with rxw and it literally sparked a flame which i had to quickly blow out. as in my reo turned into a bic lighter for a few split seconds.

IMO you're doing something wrong. Give us more info about your setup and maybe we can help you troubleshoot the issue.

see above

Invest the time it takes to swap out 20-30 fiber wicks - on figuring how to use mesh wicks.

The trade-off is a steep learning curve for a veery low maintenance vape.

*mileage may vary with liquid gunkability.

seriously you use mesh for wick? what's a good resource to check out

 

[supertrunker]

i don't think mesh wicks will work very well at all for you in a RM2. They will have a propensity to dry hit like mad (so you'll always be squonking) or it will shift in the coil and risk shorting to the cap of your atty.

A few years ago i tried them, and even with a hybrid wick (say silica on the inside and a mesh 'saddle' around that) they were worse than most other things including cotton. Cotton at least has the positives of being easy to find, prepare and replace, so i'd suggest keeping mesh and cable wicks for genesis tank atomisers.

My opinion is that the sweetener is being cooked and turning dark. The juice in your bottle will turn dark over time anyway. If my RxW flames - i just leave it alone to burn out naturally - all part of the cleaning!

All my RM2's - about 12 left i think, are drilled to now have a 1/16" airhole. I found that allowed for a choice of vaping styles; you could just about lung hit them and also mtl.

T

 

[GeorgeS]

I find that I rewick/replace coils more often than I really NEED to as I want to try a different build or just something new or to do. Until recently I was using mostly 28-32AWG Ni200 so the coils did not really hold up to rewicking anyway.

Oddly, after about 2 weeks (60ml) of nothing but %100VG (ok, it DOES have some nicotine in it) most of the coil and all the wick look fine. I say "most" as the bottom of the coil nearest the air hole has some black gunk on it. Maybe a 1/4 or less of the coil on the bottom has it. Even more odd is that I only use TC and at fairly mundane temp setting of 380F.

Sad the gunk is on the bottom side of the coil and said coil has to be removed to access the gunk. No matter, wire is cheap and wick material is even cheaper. I'm currently experimenting with braided silica for the ultimate in longevity. (I know, it won't help with the black gunk...)

 

[Ryedan]

firstly i appreciate all the input. i haven't gone awol, it's just difficult to find ecf time lately.

my juice is unflavored and then i add a couple of drops of flavor. it's clear juice and definitely not a candidate for the gunky category. (i do add sweetener but like 1 drop per 3ml).

this is why it baffles me that i'm rewicking after every 6ml vaped. the clear juice gets darker and darker as i approach the end of it.

mod is a reo, atomizer is a reomizer 2 - single coil. i vape mostly at about .9ohms, so that's 20 watts maximum, down to 15 watts when the battery loses charge. coil and wick is simple. i've tried "everything" with coils: 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, contact, spaced, 29g, 28g, 27g, 26g. for wick i use KGD, and i've tried many different thicknesses and lengths.

basically the issue is that juice is "cooking", and wick is getting sort of black where it makes contact with the coil. i've even tried sucking for a few seconds after i take a hit so that the airflow will cool the coil/wick.

excuse the essay. it's just annoying. i'll post up a tl;dr and perhaps some images later if anyone still pops onto this thread.

one thing i haven't tried is making the airflow hole a bit thicker. it's the stock reomizer 2 hole which is a tight draw for most people i've heard. would reaming this to be wider make any difference?

So, why do you care that the wick darkens a bit? Is the flavor going off? Any burnt hits? If these are happening then there is an issue. If not, what happens if you don't look at the wick and just vape it until you notice a performance drop?

One drop of sweetener per 3 ml is about 0.5% and could conceivably make a difference. I don't add separate sweetener to my juices so I don't have a feel for this.

If you would like to cool the coil more, moving more air through the atty will do that. Just drawing a bit quicker than you're doing now will make a difference. Opening up the air hole will help you draw faster and will also widen the air flow a bit. I run my Reomizer at 0.3-0.4 ohms and drilled out the hole to 2.5mm, but I like lung hits and 0.3 ohms is a lot more power than at 0.9 ohms. I always raise the coil in any atty so the air flow hits the lower half of a horizontal coil to make sure that some air will get underneath it and cool the bottom of the coil.

seriously you use mesh for wick? what's a good resource to check out

I really wouldn't try SS mesh in a Reomizer. I'm quite good with Genisis attys but the thought of trying to get that to work well in a RM2 on a Reo is just daunting to me.

 

[WattWick]

Half asleep, so can't dig up any decent resources. A look in the genesis section could be a good place to start. While I don't use and RM2, I've read some use it with mesh. I generally don't use drippers, but when I do, it's with mesh. A solid core to stiffen it (I.e kanthal wire) and a diagonally cut sheet of mesh will give you a bendable wick that will keep its shape. It's really no big deal using it in a dripper instead of a gennie. The same principles apply: coil in contact with mesh - else you get hot wraps. Not too tight, or you'll get difficult/impossible hotspots that will come back to haunt you. Mind how fastening the coil to the deck/post affects tightness and prepare accordingly.

Getting used to wrapping the coil right and preventing/sorting out hotspots; can't deny that can cause grey hair. Some just get it. Some don't. Must admit I struggled. Yet, the occasional semi-success told me it would be worth the effort to get it right.

(Mostly) The only atties that are not mesh-friendly are ones you close off completely before firing them up.

Speaking in generalities, a coil that spend more time than necessary at temperatures just below vaporizing - tend to gunk up a lot. It's more akin to reducing a broth than vaporizing e-liquids.

 

[plewm]

So, why do you care that the wick darkens a bit? Is the flavor going off? Any burnt hits? If these are happening then there is an issue. If not, what happens if you don't look at the wick and just vape it until you notice a performance drop?

yeah, starts to taste a bit burnt after 6mls. not terrible but bad enough for me to be rewicking every 6mls. after 9mls it's not good at all.

i just can't figure this out and it's driving me mental.

i think the only two things i haven't done are: try without sweetener (doubt this is the culprit because 0.5% of sucralose isn't a lot), try ream the small stock air hole on this atty to be bigger.

that or try rayon or something. only ever tried KGD and RxW.

anyway

 

[zoiDman]

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i just can't figure this out and it's driving me mental.

...

Try using a Tad Less Cotton in your Wicks.

 

[AndriaD]

Yeah, I was thinking, a bit less wicking, a bit less wattage, a bit more airflow. I use >3% sweetener in my ADV, which is 30% flavoring, and I can make a wick last for 10-12ml.

Andria

 

[zoiDman]

Yeah, I was thinking, a bit less wicking, a bit less wattage, a bit more airflow. I use >3% sweetener in my ADV, which is 30% flavoring, and I can make a wick last for 10-12ml.

Andria

Wow... 30% Flavoring.

What type of Flavoring(s) do you use?

 

[AndriaD]

Wow... 30% Flavoring.

What type of Flavoring(s) do you use?

Inawera Shisha Strawberry 16%
TFA DX Bavarian Cream 6%
TFA Vanilla Swirl 4.5%
CAP Sweet Cream 2%
TFA Sweetener 3%

It's actually 31.5%. I've experimented with lowering all flavors except the sweetener by 5%, and that's not bad, but anytime I have to wrangle with vaper's tongue, I go back to this original recipe, and get my flavor back.

Andria

 

[zoiDman]

Inawera Shisha Strawberry 16%
TFA DX Bavarian Cream 6%
TFA Vanilla Swirl 4.5%
CAP Sweet Cream 2%
TFA Sweetener 3%

It's actually 31.5%. I've experimented with lowering all flavors except the sweetener by 5%, and that's not bad, but anytime I have to wrangle with vaper's tongue, I go back to this original recipe, and get my flavor back.

Andria

Gotcha...

 

[plewm]

...tried with a really thin cotton wick. rolled it up very lightly in my fingers to get a mini dreadlock, it slid right through. vape was stellar.....until 6ml. my current build is evenly spaced 26g at 2.5mm at .9ohms. at this stage i'm convinced that the entire vaping community is in on an elaborate hoax against me.

i've been vaping this way for years - thought it was normal to be rewicking often

i'm waiting on a mini jewelers set so i can ream the air hole bigger to see if that helps. DOUBT it's the juice but i might also try soldier through some unflavored to see.

here's what wicky wick looks like after 6mls (the recent thin one)

 

[plewm]

well....

i tried almost unflavored: about 1% of FlavourArt flavoring, no additives or sweeteners. very thin wick (not too thin, just thin).

i got through 9ml, so slightly improved!

but i started getting the burnt taste after that. by burnt i don't mean heinous - just that slightly off aftertaste that masks what the juice would normally taste like. importantly though, the wick is still burning/blackening like in the photo above, so i think it's safe to assume that juice is not the culprit.

my next steps will be reaming the airhole, and trying rayon, just gotta wait for shipments.

if anyone has any other ideas please say.

trying desperately not to make this thread any more ridiculous than it already is lol.

 

[zoiDman]

well....

i tried almost unflavored: about 1% of FlavourArt flavoring, no additives or sweeteners. very thin wick (not too thin, just thin).

i got through 9ml, so slightly improved!

but i started getting the burnt taste after that. by burnt i don't mean heinous - just that slightly off aftertaste that masks what the juice would normally taste like. importantly though, the wick is still burning/blackening like in the photo above, so i think it's safe to assume that juice is not the culprit.

my next steps will be reaming the airhole, and trying rayon, just gotta wait for shipments.

if anyone has any other ideas please say.

trying desperately not to make this thread any more ridiculous than it already is lol.

I'm sure you Mentioned it before.

But what Watts were you Using when you Vaped that last 9ml of 1% Flavoring?

 

[plewm]

I'm sure you Mentioned it before.

But what Watts were you Using when you Vaped that last 9ml of 1% Flavoring?

15-20W.

i mean how many variables are there, i can't see what i haven't considered.